A beautiful day

We have an awesome backyard....except when it rains. The trees and the poor drainage make it a muddy mess for days. With all the rain we've had this summer, it's been hit or miss for playing outdoors. We've started having some beautiful fall days now though, so we've been taking advantage of them. At the beginning of this week we played in the backyard for a couple of hours and burned some much needed energy! The kids had a great time swinging and playing on the slide and in the clubhouse.

This old pump was cemented into the ground as a landscape piece, but we put our swingset where it was. So now it leans against the fence until we find a better place for it!

Look out Brynn...here comes Lauren.

This is what Dexter prefers to do on a sunny day.

Hailey loves to swing!

Peeking over the clubhouse wall.

I thought this swing would be fun because they would be able to pump themselves. I was wrong...and now I just have another swing to push.:)

Adam & Elise's wedding

Ryan's sister Elise was married this past Saturday at Copper Creek Golf Course in Pleasant Hill. It turned out to be a perfectly beautiful day for the outdoor ceremony. Lots of friends and family came to help them celebrate and I think everything went pretty smoothly! Lucas and Reagan were the ring bearer and flower girl and I was honored to be the Matron of Honor. It was fun to see our little family all dressed up for the occasion. Congratulations, Adam & Elise!

Reagan in her flower girl dress. She loved to twirl!

Drew looking good in his shirt and tie!

Lauren enjoying a snack with Grandpa Wayne before the ceremony.

The bride, bridesmaids and flower girl

The Notebooms looking spiffy!

The entire Mike Noteboom family

The Great Grandkids with their Omas and Opa

When Reagan got almost to the end of the aisle she said, "Uh Oh, I ran out of flowers!" I was trying to motion her to just keep on walking!

The rings

We finally got to dance. All Reagan really cared about was the cake and dancing!

Drew and Lauren on the dance floor.

Ryan thought Drew looked like a stock broker after a long day at work.:)

We finally got Luke out on the dance floor and boy does he have some moves!

A miniature Fred Astaire. Hee Hee!

Exhausted!

We had a great time camping this weekend with almost all of the Van Mersbergen extended family. Every year we get together for a camping trip. Last year we started going to a Loop campsite at Saylorville, which is really nice for all the kids we have along. They can run and ride their bikes and we don't have to worry about them being on the road. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I'll have to try to snag pictures from family members. We had a great time. It was nice to be able to use my Uncle Jim and Aunt Arlene's old camper again....especially last night when it rained (Thanks again, guys!)! Drew is definitely our child that likes camping the least. I'm not sure what his deal is, because he loves to be outdoors, but he gets so tired and crabby. I asked him if he likes camping and he shook his head "no" with a sad look on his face.:) Hopefully once he turns three he'll enjoy it more! It was a great weekend. The kids were so exhausted that they were all in bed by 6:30. I think it will be an early night for me as well! It kind of marks the end of our summer activities, but this weather is getting me excited for fall! Next weekend is Ryan's sister's wedding, so look for those pictures to be coming soon. I won't forget my camera this time.:)

Our favorite things

Books!!

And Trains!!
....and our grandpas and grandmas!:)

Milestones

Reagan has now hit the big time...as far as preschool goes at least! She started her 4 year old preschool this week and is loving it. She will be going to school 3 mornings a week, which is just enough for her and mommy.:) She has a large class of around 27 students, but there are 3 teachers in the room with them. One of the things she noticed right away were all the boys in her class, because last year she only had 2. I'm sure that will be a big difference, although it sounds like she was already trying to boss them around on the playground! Her personality is definitely a lot different than Luke's in that respect.:)
Drew and Lauren have also made the jump up to big kid beds. We converted their cribs into toddler beds because they were climbing out of them and I didn't feel like dealing with bumps to the head or broken bones! Lauren was a little hesitant, but I think she likes the freedom now. I do have to separate them for nap time though because they just mess around with each other instead of sleep and then they are grumpy. Drew is funny because when he wakes up he'll be out of bed, but then if he sees me coming he quick jumps back in because he thinks he'll get in trouble. He hasn't figured out that after he's slept he's allowed out! The next big milestone for them will be potty training. Lauren is super interested, but I'm not quite ready yet. I still feel like they're a little young and I'd rather wait a bit and have the process go quickly. Drew just doesn't care, so I'm hoping he'll take cues from his sister!
We're adjusting well to our new school routines. Luke is loving first grade and his class and teacher. We're gearing up for the first football game of the season this Friday and one more camping trip over Labor Day. Lots of fun over at the Noteboom house!!

The 1st Day in the 1st Grade

Luke's first day of school was today. He was excited to start First Grade and had some friends from last year in this class. I think he'll learn a lot and have a fun year! I don't think anyone will have any trouble figuring out his interests either. He picked out his Star Wars shirt to wear with his new Star Wars backpack, which held his Star Wars lunch box and Star Wars thermos.:)

Let the countdown begin

This summer has seriously flown by. While I don't think of summer as being almost over, it is after all only the beginning of August, the school calendar tells me differently. Luke is down to less that 2 weeks of summer vacation before the big first grade year begins. I was feeling a little glum about that the other day as we were enjoying some leisurely play time in our backyard, but then I started thinking about all the wonderful fall things I like and I perked up a little.:) We still have lots of fun things planned though. This Saturday we're heading to the zoo with Ryan's work. We get in free, which is an added bonus! Next week we're taking an extra long weekend to head to Orange City and the cabin one more time. It's kind of a last minute planned trip, but we needed to get back there while we could. We have tickets to the Iowa State Fair and we're going camping Labor Day weekend! I told Luke all the plans we have for the rest of the summer and his face lit up. It should be a fun time.
I've also been counting down the numbers on the scale. I had a master plan about 2 years ago, which backfired big time. I joined Weight Watchers so I could lose the 20 pounds of baby weight from Luke & Reagan. I thought that if I lost the weight before getting pregnant one more time, it would be easy to get right back down to it. I did lose the weight and then got pregnant...with twins! Unfortanately, I gained 60 pounds instead of 30 pounds and now have...you guessed it, 20 pounds to lose. So I started using a free website called Myfitnesspal.com. It has been great so far! You input what you eat and it takes away calories, carbs, fat, and protein from what you should have daily based on your requirements. You can also input any exercise you do. I've lost 4 pounds so far and am still feeling motivated. The best part is that at the end of the day when you input all your data, it tells you, if every day were like today you would weight "input weight" in 5 weeks. That makes you want to keep on going. I just thought I'd share in case anyone else is trying to lose weight or just eat healthier.
We also had pictures taken by someone in our church at the beginning of July. They turned out pretty cute. The twins were not very cooperative at all, but we were able to get a couple of good shots of them. Luke & Reagan had tons of great ones! Here are just a couple. Enjoy your weekend!